The two representatives, who have both been given the title of managing directors of the newly created and fully-owned TOBAM North America, are Stephane Detobel and Francis Verpoucke.
They will be responsible for business development and relationship management with US investors, TOBAM said in a statement.
Both Detobel and Verpoucke come to TOBAM from Amundi, which acquired a 17.5% stake in TOBAM in 2012, alongside a global distribution agreement. Detobel joined Amundi in 2001, and in 2008, was responsible for launching that company’s USA operations.
Verpoucke also spent some 12 years with Amundi, after having begun his career in 1996 as an auditor at PriceWaterhouseCoopers Belgium. He joined Detobel at Amundi USA in 2008, where he was put in charge of business development and client servicing for US investors.
Growing US presence
TOBAM's opening of an office in New York comes four years after TOBAM established a partnership with third-party marketer Investeam in Canada, and two years after the company received an SEC investment adviser licence, after having received an allocation from CalPERS, the giant US pension fund.
TOBAM has also received a US patent for its anti-benchmark model, which it describes as a “quantitative investment approach” based on its own research, which it says is “designed to maximise the efficiency of equity portfolios and take advantage of the benefits of diversification”, while aiming to offer investors “the opportunity to access a more diverse exposure than [market-cap-] weighted capitalisation indices, and to improve their risk/return".
This system was developed by TOBAM president and chief investment officer Yves Choueifaty in 2005, TOBAM said.
As of last month, TOBAM had some $5.4bn in assets under management, which it said represents a doubling of assets over the year-to-date. The company began operation in 2005, and in spite of being based in Paris, looks after investors who are mainly (90%-plus) based outside of France. The company is majority employee-owned, apart from the 17.5% Amundi stake as well as a 12% share held by CalPERS, through its External Manager Development Program.
The new TOBAM office in New York is located on Madison Avenue near East 26th Street, opposite Madison Square Park.
